Columbia Journalism Reviewtag:www.cjr.org,2011-09-12://142015-02-25T16:06:54ZColumbia Journalism Review: The future of media is hereWhy scientists often hate records requeststag:www.cjr.org,2015://14.418452015-02-25T16:00:00Z2015-02-25T16:06:54ZThe shadow side of sunlight lawsAnna Clark
A mammoth open records request by an anti-GMO nonprofit is making headlines this month for the sheer breadth of its ask. US Right to Know, based in Oakland, CA, has asked at least four universities to turn over all correspondence since 2012 between 14 researchers and a number of private companies, including Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, and public relations firm Ogilvy
James Hamblin: A fresh perspective for health journalismtag:www.cjr.org,2015://14.417932015-02-17T11:50:00Z2015-02-18T14:36:24ZThe Atlantic editor has accumulated a loyal following with his video series "If Our Bodies Could Talk"Anna Clark
James Hamblin keeps getting compared to Doogie Howser. Sure, The Atlantic's senior editor and health columnist came to the gig with bona fide expertise: he is an MD who worked as a radiologist at UCLA. And at age 32, Hamblin not only looks young, but he is steeped in precociousness as the host of the magazine's playful video series, "If
Is national media ignoring local science fraud?tag:www.cjr.org,2015://14.416742015-01-28T11:50:00Z2015-01-28T23:18:37ZInstances are being covered as local stories rather than as data points in a national narrative Anna Clark
In a rare case, a former Iowa State University scientist was prosecuted by a federal attorney last summer for faking the results of his AIDS vaccine research. The university repaid nearly a half-million dollars to the federal government, covering several years of the researcher's salary. An additional $1.4 million in grant money, which had not yet been paid, was canceled.
Database may uncover conflicts of interest for TV doctorstag:www.cjr.org,2015://14.416432015-01-23T11:50:00Z2015-03-03T22:03:37ZFree lunches, paid speaking gigs & free drug samples are often not disclosed by media physiciansPaul D. Thacker
Last September, the federal government rolled out a website that offered a searchable database of the $3.5 billion in payments that drug and device companies provided to physicians and teaching hospitals in the last half of 2013. Data for 2014 is still being accumulated, but the breadth of information already completed has given unprecedented insight into a medical economy that
The Texas school board isn't as powerful as you thinktag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.414832014-12-01T11:50:00Z2014-11-29T21:58:23ZIts textbook clout has waned but reporters are still writing as though it hasn'tAnna Clark
Moses was a major political influence on the Founding Fathers? Scientists "disagree about what is causing climate change"? And they further predict that upcoming cooling years will counter global warming and "even things out"? These were the kind of specious claims that the Texas Board of Education debated before it voted to approve 89 textbooks and digital programs for its
Will radio save science journalism?tag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.414452014-11-18T11:50:00Z2014-11-19T14:50:57ZWNYC will soon have a new health unitAnna Clark
In hiring a brand-new health journalism staff, WNYC may be one of the only news outlets in the country that is actually expanding its physical offices to accommodate more reporting muscle. The flagship station from New York Public Radio is building out a new health unit to house four reporters, an editor, a community projects manager, and the managing editor
Climate change coverage at a crossroads in Australiatag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.414142014-11-11T11:50:00Z2014-11-11T15:03:01ZConservative news outlets News Corp and Fairfax Media tend to control the message Thuy Ong
Australia is entering what meteorologists are predicting will be another sweltering summer, with October already experiencing its hottest day on record. But coverage of the record temperatures, which scientists agree can be traced to global warming, isn't always covered as such here. Australia's concentrated media landscape, dominated by two owners that skew toward climate-change skepticism, has led to coverage that
A digital transformation for Sciencetag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.413882014-11-02T19:50:00Z2014-10-31T17:51:29ZIn transitioning to a new magazine model, the publication's challenges are familiarAnna Clark
You might call it a scientific experiment. One hundred and thirty-five years after its launch, Science is going from print-centric to digital-first. The new normal at the leading journal of scientific news and research and its sister publications, all products of American Association for the Advancement of Science, will be interactive graphics and lively embedded videos. A fourth publication launches
BP's aggressive PR strategy obfuscates factstag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.413802014-10-29T17:05:00Z2014-10-29T18:59:44ZThe company's flack blurs lines between journalism and company mission
Alexis Sobel FittsWhy media probably shouldn't name Ebola victimstag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.413102014-10-21T10:50:00Z2014-10-22T15:18:26ZEbola's made its American sufferers famous--but what do we gain with personal details?
Alexis Sobel Fitts
By the time the video of Nina Pham was released last week, most Americans were likely familiar with her name--and the fact that she is one of two nurses diagnosed with Ebola after treating victim Thomas Eric Duncan. In the video, uploaded by Dallas Presbyterian Hospital, where Pham was working when she contracted the disease, the nurse smiles through tears
Here's how to produce strong Ebola storiestag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.412642014-10-06T21:00:00Z2014-10-07T00:10:58ZThe most effective coverage of the first American case has stemmed from the steady hands of experienced--and highly credible--federal medical leaders as well as health and science specialty beat reportersCristine Russell
The first American case of Ebola, diagnosed last week in Dallas, TX, was a real-time test for government officials seeking to quell public fears about the prospect of a major outbreak here--and for journalists reporting the story at the local, national, and international levels. By and large, both public health experts and mainstream media get good marks in terms of
Has climate change become a business story?tag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.411042014-09-02T04:00:30Z2014-09-02T17:39:10ZThe cost of brushing science aside
Robert S. EshelmanThe media's growing interest in how animals thinktag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.410752014-08-19T10:50:00Z2014-08-18T22:14:25ZThe more divorced we become from animals in our daily lives, the more we want to look at them onlineAlexis Sobel Fitts
Tip the elephant arrived in New York to accolades and fanfare--until things went wrong. A few years into his stay in the Central Park Zoo, the elephant began display strange bouts of anger and a mercurial personality. After several attempts to maul his caretaker, who had become convinced that the animal was hell-bent on his assassination, park commissioners deemed Tip
A long-time science reporter wrote a questionable book on genetics. Can we trust his other work?tag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.409492014-07-17T10:53:00Z2014-07-17T13:57:05ZThe case of Nicholas Wade and reporting on a lively field with a dishonorable pastChris Ip
In the 10 weeks since veteran science journalist Nicholas Wade penned a book claiming that genetic difference between the races account for social behavior like work ethic and obedience to authority, the clamor over his assertions has steadily climbed. Critics have pointed out that A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History mixes correlation and causality, makes generalized assumptions about
The newest tool in teaching about climate change: the weatherman tag:www.cjr.org,2014://14.408922014-07-02T15:00:02Z2014-07-02T19:00:10ZA South Carolina pilot project expands Alexis Sobel Fitts
In March of 2013, CJR awarded a laurel to a meteorologist in the midst of a promising project: Jim Gandy, a weather forecaster at WLTX in Columbia, SC, had been incorporating segments on climate change into the daily forecast. Since 2010 Gandy has been airing the segments, called Climate Matters, using visuals developed by a team at Climate Central to